Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-20

one uaring or caring to prevent the
self-immolation. the man Frustrated
himself in the road before the tower as
1t moved along. lying on his face with
his arms stretched forward The null
titude passed around him, leaving the
space cleo. until he was crushed to
death by me wheels of the ponderous
structure Then a wild cry of praise
was raised, and as the god was seen to
smile" at the ibation of spouting
blood, the deyotees threw cowries and
pieces of money on the body of the
victim in appreciation of the holy deed.
1t is. therefore, suggestive of a
strange revolution in Hindoo opinion
to hear that not only are victims lack
| ing. but that instead of thousands
struggling for the honor Of place at
the dragropes, laboring men. at so
many annas per diem. have to be hired
to perform the sacred function. The
awe of the Indian people for .the Lord
of the world'' has been declining. For
many years past the fame of the great
god of Orissa has been on the wane,
and the time when human sacrifice
was deliberately offered up to the
hideous idol is fast getting beyond the
power of the very oldest of old Indians
to recall Admitting that the number
of devotees this year is smaller, owning
to the loss of two pilgrim ships-and
the prophecy that a third will be
wrecked before the year is QUIT is
undeniable that Jagganna' tn is DOOM
ed, and the wealth which it brought
to the priests and the townspeople of
Pooree is likely to vanish before many
years elapse. Sometimes poor
decrepit wretch, weary of life. or
drugged by the priests with Indian
hemp or opium, will wildly throw
himself in front of the wheels, though
he is usually dragged out by the
| police, who have orders to prevent
| any attempts at suicide. Saddest
abasement of all. from the standpoint
of Brahmanism, it happened few
| years ago, for the first time in history,
that to the horror and chargin of the
priests, the car of Jagganna'th stood
still in the streets of Pooree, while the
pilgrims looked on in impious apathy.
Yet no harm befell them. although a
i
to their sacrilegious carelessness.
However, the result has been, that
| though worshipers still come to
Pooree, they just as frequently prefer
| to save themselves the trouble of haul
ing the gods, and, as happened on the
| present occasion, the priests afraid of
| the idols never reaching the tank. have
| contracts with irreverential coolies to
| perform the job for a stipulated num-
Der of rupees. Mortality there is, of
| course, still. The poor die for want
of food, of disease, and oflack of prop
er accommodations. But there is no
longer any need for interfering. for
the wrong will soon right itself by
Jagganna'th ceasing to draw" The
East, we fear, is already grown lax in
its religious observances. The pill
grim takes a third-class circular ticket
TO the holy places. Infidel ship-own-
ers issue passages to Djeddah, and a
| tourist contractor escorts the faithful
over the forty miles between Mecca
and the sea- The Egyptian dervishes
are becoming extremely chary about
making payment of their persons for
the Saadeeyeh Sheik to ride over and
| now that the Indian exchequer is be-
moaning the reduced returns from the
"Jagganna'th trade" and coolies
have to be hired to drag the car. we
seem long way from the time when
Job Charnock, factor at Fort William,
was converted to Hindooism. or when
General Stewart engaged a Brahman
to perform daily worship among the
idols in his bungalow. London Stand
| ard